A shot to the heart
by SlytherinElektra
Summary: Rude has to shoot Reno to save his life. Guilt. Pain. Betrayal. Will Reno make it? Two-shot
1. Chapter 1

She was just laying on her bed, going through the pages of a book when he heard it. Cloud and the kids were out in some sort of field trip and she had the house to herself. A nice moment to enjoy the peace and quiet in the house. Finally. But someone had to come and ring the buzzer. Of course. The peace never lasted long, did it?

With determination, she got up, deciding to get rid of whoever it was as quickly as possible. After all she'd been through, all the fights, the sickness, Cloud's brooding and Shina and Shephiroth... she deserved a little break. And she was going to get that little break. She was certain.

But the sight that greeted her when she opened the door shattered all her certainties.

It was Rude, yes, Rude, from the Turks, panting, blood on his otherwise impeccably clean shirt. One of the glasses from his shades was broken and she could see the pain in his eyes. And he was carrying something, huddled in some blankets, hidden beneath them... No wait, it was not something but someone. The blankets were blood stained, too and Tifa could see the person's feet on the left. There was no shoe on one of them, just pale skin darkened by some cuts.

Tifa didn't know what to do. Had Rude brought one of his targets to her home? Why? Or did his upset expression have something to do with the person in the blankets?

"Can we come in?" He said, solemn. "Please. I will explain everything."

The tone of his voice had a tinge of desperation, something Tifa had never heard in the Turk, not even when he'd been outnumbered in a fight. She wasn't liking this mystery, but she let him in, anyway. As soon as he was in he went to the bedroom and left the person he was carrying, very carefully, in one of the beds. Then the blankets fell and she saw more pale skin and red hair. Oh, no.

That person in the blankets who Tifa had mistaken for a dead body was Reno. Lively, joker, foul-mouthed Reno. And he was gravely injured.

He was only wearing the pants of his suits and the remnants of his usual white shirt. There were cuts and bruises all over him, his chest, his neck, his face, the crimson blood engulfed by the colour of his hair what looked like stab wounds in his stomach and two gunshot wounds on his chest. If it wasn't for the slight rise and fall of chest Tifa wouldn't have been sure he was already dead. He looked like a corpse.

"Oh my, what happened to him?"

And so Rude began his tale.

"This morning someone attacked Rufus Shinra. Witnesses say the attacker had red hair and an EMR. At the same time, someone found evidence of a conspiracy supposedly Reno was trying to put in motion to become head of the company. Only a couple hours later, Reno was the highest priority target and all Turks had orders to shoot to kill. When we arrived this morning we knew nothing and a mass of "friends" attacked him. If it wasn't for his speed he would've been dead in the spot. "

Tifa listened attentively while she quickly assessed the Redhead condition. He was barely hanging in there, but at least the bullets from his gunshot wounds had been removed. Rude continued talking and Tifa realized this was the first time she'd heard the bald man say so many words together. This had to be dead serious.

"When Tseng explained what was happening while Reno tried to get away I knew he didn't stand a chance. All the Turks were against him and he hadn't slept at all the previous night. So I decided to take action. I lured him out and shot him twice in the chest. Tried to avoid any vital organs but it had to look fatal, so it couldn't be just a shoulder. I told everyone I killed him so they would stop going after him and I could investigate who had framed him without suspicion. Tseng saw what I was doing and confirmed his death, fortunately. Now I'm supposed to be burying him in his hometown, but I'll have to go back there soon, to avoid suspicion. This is an important crisis in ShinRa and if I don't show up and follow orders they will think I was in the conspiracy with Reno."

In that moment Tifa understood Rude's pain. He had to shoot him his partner to try to save his life. Caused him real bad injuries because he saw no other option. How horrible. She wondered if in the same situation she'd have the nerve to shoot Cloud. Probably not. Tifa got her first aid kit and started cleaning and dressing his wounds, carefully.

"He didn't do it, you know?" Rude asked, still lost in his own thoughts. "I was with him all night. Got quite a bad case of alcohol poisoning. Spent all night throwing up. And I knew that in conditions like those he wasn't going to be able to outrun Shinra for long... not even with my help. I didn't know what else to do."

"It's all right. You did what you had to do." Tifa said, while the blood from the Turk's face.

"I'm sorry to burden you with this but everybody has to think that his dead. If someone realizes that he's still alive he'll be gone long before I can clear his name. Only Cloud can know."

"It will be our little secret. I'll do my best to ensure a speedy recovery."

Rude got up and started to leave, after straightening his clothes.

"Thank you, Tifa. I know you didn't have to do this and I'll never forget your help. I soon as I sort out the mess I will come back, get him to a proper hospital. Call me if anything... happens."

Tifa understood what it meant but she was NOT going to let that man die on her watch. Not a chance.

"Take care." Rude said and with a last pained look to his partner, he left.

Tifa was left alone with Reno, an unmoving, unconscious Reno. It was really strange to have him so silent when usually he wouldn't stop talking. He looked better now that he was clean, even if the amount of bandages used to dress his wounds made the Turk look a bit like a mummy. Tifa noticed how striking his face was, even with his eyes closed. He had a unique kind of beauty, so fair-skinned and apparently fragile. The marks on his face only increased the strange appeal he had. A real looker.

He had always been really pale and now he looked almost impossibly white with a tinge of violet under the eyes. And he was still unconscious. The minutes passed and nothing happened. No movement.

Tifa looked back to her encounters with the Turk. Even if they hadn't had a great start they had helped each other more than once and she couldn't deny she was fond of the guy. It was always nice to be around cheerful people, especially when you spend so much time with gloomy people like Cloud or Vincent.

Tifa took off Reno's bloodstained goggles and caressed his cheek, softly.

"Come on, Reno. I know you're stronger than this."

A/N: My first time in this fandom, what did you think? Any comments about this chapter? I love to hear from you! ^^


	2. Chapter 2

A while later Cloud arrived and Tifa explained the situation as quickly as she could. He was quite helpful and put to use some of the medical knowledge he'd learned while trying to find a cure for the geostigma. Reno's condition worsened that night as an infection settled in, probably due to the hours that had passed between him getting shot and getting some proper medical attention. Rude had done his best when digging the bulletts but not before being sure that no one was watching. And Reno was already weakened by that boozy all-nighter. Jeez. Things were not looking up, not in the least.

In Shinra headquarters Rude tried not to think too much about what he'd done and focus on what he had to do. Find the bastard that put him in this position in the first place. But it was not easy having colleagues come by every now and then telling him that _he'd done the right thing_ or that _they were glad to be rid of that monster_ or that they _admired you for the quick action _and that you were a hero. They thought he had killed him and they were calling him a hero for it. Who knew, maybe he'd really killed him. As far as he knew, Reno could be breathing his last in Tifa's bed. Because he had shot him. His partner.

It pained him just thinkking about it. He wanted to do what he was supposed to. File the report on the incident (and his partner apparent death), take the compliments kindly, do some research. But he was doing it alone. No snarky remarks, no sly smiles, no bad taste jokes. And it was his fault. Even if the whole situation had not been his fault, Rude couldn't get over the fact that he had shot Reno. In the chest. Caused him injuries that could be deadly. He needed to focus. Stop thinking about the red head motted with blood. Stop thinking about the unmoving white form beneath the blankets, stop thinking about Reno's eyes when he shot him.

He was looking at him. Looking with those incredibly pale blue eyes, pained, confused, scared.

He was looking at him.

Luckily, before it got any worse, Rude was called away by Tseng. His boss had found some leads on who the real attacker might have been and wanted him to look into it, calling it a secret mission for the president. Thank god he had him on his side.

That night, Reno woke up,panting and sweating and with no idea of where he was. He felt his to his stomach and his head was on fire. Was he still humgover? And what was that place? A hand came to his forehead, trying to take the sweaty hair out, and he realized that it was bandaged. His mind was foggy. He tried to remember when a sharp stab of pain of his chest startled him.

"Welcome back, Reno. How are you feeling?" That was Strife. What the hell was he doing there?

Reno looked around but couldn't quite locate the place. There were flashes of the morning and the previous night. There was much booze and then there was pain. And Rude was standing over him with a gun. He remembered looking at him, pleading. But that couldn't be true, right? He felt sick but barely registered throwing up. His mind was collapsed with pain and confusion. He didn't know anyhting anymore. He wanted to speak but found no words. Only pain. Cloud's concerned eyes were the last thing he registered before slipping back into the darkness.

Cloud had been waiting for his patient to wake up, but this had not been what he imagined. Instead of reassuring him, Reno's foggy eyes and wishpered moans had only unsettled him. What if he only got worse and died? Cloud certainly didn't want another death on his conscience. Even if this time he had nothing to do with it, he was sure that Reno's pale face would haunt him in his dreams if he perished there. Tifa came by some time later and Cloud told her about the Turk's little vomitimg episode, and how incoherent he'd been.

She was worried but tried reassure Cloud.

"Reno's a natural fighter who has survived worse things than this. He'll make it, don't worry."

But the redhead didn't wake up again in the following two days. He spent the days and nights in a restless feverish sleep, thrashing and whimpering when he wasn't completely unresponsive and unmoving.

Back at Shinra, things were starting to clear up. Tseng had gone into research deeply, claiming he was only ensuring Reno's conspiracy didn't go any further, along with Rude and Elena, whi was still mourning the loss of her colleague, unaware of everything. They really wanted to tell her, but they couldn't risk an information leak. Not when everyday there were people adding more _evidence_ of Reno's disloyalty.

But now they had another suspect, and were gathering pieces of evidence. It was a young and very bright late addition to the company, a scientist by the name of Grind, who had been rejected when he tried to get in the Turks. Now he was talking about reforming the body, changong some things so incidents like Reno's wouldn't happen again. He gave out a lot of indication to improve the Turks and proposed himself as new leader, demoting Tseng to second-in-command because _he hadn't seen the danger that was lurking right under his nose_. That way he would rule over those who rejected him and he would get away with the attack. Tseng had suspected him the second he started talking about modifying the Turks but didn't have proof of his implication. He had sent Elena to befriend the man, try to get some info out of him while Reno was following the money and document trail.

It was five days later when Rude, Elena and Tseng went to visit the Rufus Shinra with enough evidence to exculpate Reno. They had a well hidden but solid document trail, a bunch of circunstantial evidence and most importantly, a taped confession. Grind had felt the need to divulge his diabolic plan when Elena had told him that killers turned her on, and his confession had been recorded by a small device she had in her pocket. Rufus had accepted the evidence and asked people to find Grind (who had disappeared after his confession) and to deal with him.

"It's a shame we lost someone to this ambitious madman. Reno was a good guy and an excellent Turk. He deserved better." Rufus added at the end and Rude saw Elena's eyes watering.

"Sir, he is not gone." Rude admitted, not seeing the need to keep it secret anymore. "I knew him to be innocent so I faked his pdeath and left him in a safe house to recover. I would have to you with the information but I feared he could be dead by the time I reached you an told you it couldn't have been him."

Then, there was silence. Right or not, Rude had lied to the company and to his colleagues betraying the loyalty he was supposed to have to Shinra above all other things. Rufus was serious, Tseng was serious and Elena was amazed.

"I assume you knew about this" Rufus told Tseng, who only nodded

"And you didn't." He told a now smiling Elena.

There was moment of tension and then Rufus smiled as well.

"Good job, then. You minimized the damage and saved an important asset to the company. I applaud your boldness and quick action, as it revealed the presence of an internal danger. Come on, go see that convalescing hero and send him my regards, and my apologies."

There were lots of thank-you's and smiles, but Rude was still serious. There was still something he needed to do.

Reno had gone through different phases while his colleagues cleared his name. He'd been asleep for long, worrying both Cloud and Tifa with his stillness and silence. Then his fever spiked at 103 and he woke up, claiming that he felt cold and asking about some lost childhood friend, scaring them even more. Later, after a copuple day more of incoherence and delirium , he finally recognized the place, Cloud and Tifa. He was still in much pain and complained loudly about it but at least he was functional and hosts were not as concerned for his survival. Even if his recovery would take a while, at least they were sure there was going to be a recovery. He slowly remembered what had happenned and with his memory and a few words of explanation form Tifa the confusion was gone, too. He decided he would hunt down the bastard that had done that (once again, very loudly) but was convinced to wait, at least, until he was able to stand up without inmediately falling forward again.

And then, after a few days, Rude, Elena and Tseng arrived, bearing very good news. Reno was transferred to a hospital to finish his recovery faster but before that both Tifa and Cloud were widely thank-you'd. A happy ending, at last.

But there was something that still needed to be done.

Rude went to the hospital mostly at night, while his partner slept. Even if all had gone as good as it should, even if they've caught the bad guy and saved the red head, he still felt terrible for the shooting. The way Reno had looked at him when he'd wielded his gun was forever etched into his mind. That look. In those pale blue eyes. A grieveing look mixed with that much confusion. He had shot his partner. Twice. As much as he tried to rationalize it and told himself it had been the only option and it had been for the best the guilt was always there. Irrational yet powerful. _You shot him. He could've died. You shot him._

The redhead's voice distracted Rude.

"Hey, partner, what you doin' here so late?" He said, rubbing his eyes, clearly having just woke up.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up." Rude said, keeping his gaze steady on the floor. He couldn't face those eyes. Not yet.

"No problem."

And then there was silence, comfortable, companionable silence while Reno tried to find get comfortable in that bed and Rude tried to find the right wors. How to start.

"Reno, I..." he couldn't look at him, even when he could those blue eyes watching "I'm sorry. I really am."

"You're sorry for saving my life. That's not very nice, yo."

The joke gave Rude the nerve to look up.

"I'm serious. I'm sorry I shot you, I wish I could've found a better way to help you escape. But there was so many people... and there was no time..."

"It's OK." Reno interrupted "It really is. I admit that it creeped up a bit seeing you shoot me, yeah... But it's all in the past. Piss under the bridge. We cool, K?"

Rude wanted to protest. This was bigger than a quick apology and a high-five, this was more serious... But a look into his partner face, into that smiling plae face of his and he knew it would all be alright. They would survive this the same way they had survived everything. Fighting.

"We're cool."

END.

A/N: Hope you liked it! Sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes!

Reviews are love!


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